BONE STRENGTH DIAGNOSING APPARATUS AND BONE STRENGTH DIAGNOSING METHOD USING ULTRASONIC WAVE

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a bone strength diagnosing device and a bone strength diagnosing method accurately diagnosing a bone strength of a long and tubular bone. SOLUTION: A longitudinal ultrasonic transmitter/receiver 3 and a transverse ultrasonic transmitter/receiver 2 radiate ultrasonic waves onto a bone front surface 31 of a tibia 30 from a predetermined angle to generate surface waves that propagate in the bone front surface 31 in the longitudinal direction of the tibia and in the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, respectively, and receive leaky waves leaking to the side of the soft tissues 40 from the front surface waves. A speed-of-sound calculating section 21 calculates speeds Va and Vb of sound of the surface waves in the transverse direction and longitudinal direction based on a difference between course lengths of the ultrasonic waves and a difference between propagation times. A first index calculating section 22 calculates an index (a first index) by which a bone density is evaluated using the speed Va of sound of the surface wave in the transverse direction. A second index calculating section calculates an index (a second index) by which an orientation of the bone is evaluated using the speeds Vb and Va of sound of the surface waves in the longitudinal direction and the transverse direction. A bone diagnosing section 24 uses the first index and the second index to diagnose the bone strength based on the bone density and orientation. COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT